Bamboozle: When It's Worth It

Each year, the Bamboozle Festival is held in northern New Jersey. This two-day concert is held in the parking lot of the New York Giant's stadium. Accompanied by approximately 150 bands, this two-day event is one unforgettable concert. Filled with merchandise vendors, free contests, nine stages of live music, and gravitrons, you won't find a dull moment. There will be hundreds of new bands selling their own t-shirts, posters, and giving away their free CD's. It is a great chance to see your favorite performers, as well as gain knowledge of new up and coming artists. Throughout the days there are also several chances to meet certain bands and get autographs.

The Bamboozle extends its artists' welcome to punk, punk-rock, emo, indie, hardcore, and even hip hop as MC Hammer was one of the performing artists this year. The event begins at approximately 12 p.m. and each artist plays for approximately a half an hour until slightly before 9 p.m. At this time, the main headlining act performs for well over an hour. This year, My Chemical Romance performed on the 5th, and Linkin Park performed the next night.

Since there is only one stage of live music at this time, the intensity of the crowd turns into almost a stampede. The Bamboozle usually has between 2,000 and 4,000 fans each day, and for that many people trying to view one stage means no holding back. Being in the crowd, it can get ugly. You will be forced to move, and you won't be able to stop it. You might fall, and you might have other people fall on top of you. You might even get hit in the face with arms and legs going everywhere. You might even lose a shoe, or a cell phone or a camera.

But regardless, the Bamboozle can still be worth it. When you're in the crowd, feet away from your favorite band, screaming out the lyrics, sometimes you just won't care what else is going on. At the end of the night, you will look at the stage and smile. You survived over ten hours of thousands of people just like yourself doing what they could to get a closer glimpse of their favorite artist.

The next day, day two of the Bamboozle. It's time to do it all over again...and you'll be looking forward to every moment of it. You will look back and say that you would do it all over again.